Republican
money-man and strategist Karl Rove deflected a Fox News interviewer's
questions about his financing this week with a lie-filled rant about
Robert Bauer, President Obama's counsel, and Alabama corruption-fighter Dana Jill Simpson.

Rove
falsely told the Fox News audience that Bauer represented Simpson when
she alleged in 2007 that former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman was framed by
the Bush Justice Department. In fact, Bauer's name never previously
surfaced in arguably the most prominent and notorious federal domestic
prosecution of the decade. Rove is shown above in his official photo as a Bush White House senior advisor from 2001 to 2007.

Fox
"On the Record" interviewer Greta Van Susteren listened without
challenge as Rove repeated his lies about Simpson, Bauer and Siegelman.
Rove was responding to her question on whether the GOP-oriented Crossroads GPS deserves tax-exempt status. The group has overlapping leadership with American Crossroads, which Rove co-founded.

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The
falsity of Rove's statements regarding the Siegelman case is obvious to
those who have followed it and similar abusive prosecutions by the
Justice Department nationwide stemming from the unprecedented political
purge in 2006 of nine of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys. The specifics
are below in a transcript of Rove's Fox interview, augmented by the
commentary of Alabama journalist Glynn Wilson, a pioneering reporter on
the scandals.

Rove's
motives are even more intriguing at this point than the specifics of
his false statements regarding Siegelman's prosecution, which the U.S.
Supreme Court this month affirmed with no appellate review of Rove's
reputed role. Siegelman is scheduled for resentencing Aug. 3 on
corruption charges.

Rove's
untruthfulness this week seems far from irrational. He could land in
trouble if subjected for the first time to a thorough investigation. His
peace of mind on June 20, the day of his Fox interview, could not have
been helped by a protest march that day by attendees of the annual Campaign For America's Future
convention. They marched to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offices to
demand that federal authorities arrest Rove. The protest was symbolic,
with no charges specified.

In
a similar vein, Rove critics active in the blogo-sphere have been
claiming over the past week that one of Rove's colleagues is an ex-con
who might be outed soon in a sex scandal. This is part of the ongoing
back-and-forth war of nerves that political activists wage continually
against one another, with lawsuits and claims of outrage by each side.

In
this context, it made sense for Rove to deflect attacks by claiming to
Fox listeners that he has been cleared from any suspicions by previous
investigations -- and that critics are partisans allied unfairly against
him.

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The
full story of the Siegelman case involves, in my opinion, financial,
legal, national security, sex, drug and political scandals implicating
many high-level officials. Among the latest
developments are claims against Siegelman's judge by his estranged wife.
She alleges adultery and other misconduct in a case being kept secret
from the public under what appears to be an unstated but important legal
principle decisive in the circuit court of Montgomery, Alabama: that
judges are above the law, and not subject to ordinary scrutiny during litigation.

The
full story of this 13-year prosecution is too long to describe with all
detail in today's column, even with links pointing to the supporting
evidence we have previously published.

So,
my focus today is on Rove's attack, which partly overlaps with my work
as a Washington-based attorney and investigative reporter. In September
2007, for example, I met Simpson and her Alabama-based attorney
Priscilla Black Duncan when they came to Washington for Simpson's
testimony before House Judiciary Committee staff. I knew enough about
her civic crusade to warn that authorities and journalists alike tend to
abuse whistle-blowers. That proved true for her, as for many others in
the Siegelman case.

Andrew Kreig is an investigative reporter, attorney, author, business strategist, radio host, and longtime non-profit executive based in Washington, DC.
His most recent book is "Presidential Puppetry: Obama, Romney and Their Masters," the (more...)